The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain the bail plea of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is in CBI custody in connection with the excise policy case.
The Supreme Court said on Thursday it is not the 'interpreter' of the Holy Quran and it has been argued before it in the Karnataka hijab ban matter that courts are not equipped to interpret religious scriptures.
'Even if it is difficult to replicate Bangladesh, India can cause sufficient turmoil in Pakistan to keep it off balance,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
"There was absolutely no need or necessity to mount a visceral attack on the religious beliefs of the Hindus. It was unwarranted and utterly unrelated to the occasion. That is what makes it deliberate and malicious," Justice G R Swaminathan of Madras High Court said.
Additional sessions judge Anil Antil dismissed the application of Bhupinder Tomar, president of the 'Hindu Raksha Dal', and said that in the past such incidents have flared communal tensions leading to riots and loss to life and property. Tomar was accused of raising communal slogans and inciting youth to propagate against a particular religion at a rally at Jantar Mantar on August 8. "We are not Taliban State. Rule of law is the sacrosanct governing principle in our plural and multi-cultural society. While the whole of India is celebrating 'Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav', there are some minds still chained with Intolerant and self centric beliefs," the judge said in the order passed on August 21.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it will examine the interpretation of sedition law, particularly in the light of media rights and free speech, as it gave protection to Telugu news channels -- TV5 and ABN Andhrajyothi -- from any coercive action in a case lodged against them under the colonial era provision.
The top court said in order to declare whether the exercise is academic or infructuous, it needs to examine the matter since both sides are not agreeable.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to grant interim protection from arrest to Ali Abbas Zafar, director of the web series Tandav, and others seeking the quashing of FIRs against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus, and issued notices Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other states on their pleas.
Asked about action taken against those spreading fake news, and publishers of anti-national material, he said more than 60 accounts have been blocked including those on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
According to the cause list uploaded on the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant would hear on August 5 three separate petitions seeking probe into the reports of alleged snooping by government agencies on eminent citizens, politicians and scribes by using Israeli spyware Pegasus.
The government questioned the manner in which Twitter "officially allows fake, unverified, anonymous and automated bot accounts to be operated on its platform" and said it raises doubts about its commitment to transparency and healthy conversation on the platform.
According to a 2019 Congressional Research Service report of August 2019, a longstanding goal of US policy in South Asia has been to prevent the India-Pakistan conflict from escalating to interstate war.
Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday suspended Congress member of Parliament Rajani Ashokrao Patil for the remainder of the current Budget Session for filming House proceedings.
The police made the statement after a bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal said the issue involved the larger question of Ranaut's fundamental right to free speech and that the court will have to grant her some ad-interim relief.
'The best remedy would be to scrap Section 124-A of the IPC, a colonial vestige, altogether.' 'However, if legislators don't want to do so, they can do two things.' 'They can formally amend Section 124-A to bring it in line with what the Supreme Court has said about sedition.' 'The words which stand on the statute book today were inserted in 1898.' 'The Supreme Court's words are not a part of Section 124-A.'
The New York Times reported that according to Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wylie, the Mumbai-born controversial author was on a ventilator and could not speak.
'I think the President will note that the world is looking to India to continue to uphold its democratic traditions, respect for religious minorities,' the official said.
Asserting that hijab is the "identity" of Muslims, senior advocate Dushyant Dave told the Supreme Court on Monday that various acts of omission and commission like Karnataka's headscarf controversy showed a "pattern to marginalise the minority community".
'India will want a lot of help from the US, but it's not going to want US troops.'
'The larger intention is to create a political State where there is no opposition.'
Unless Indians learn to speak freely and fearlessly, 'true greatness will elude this nation, no matter how brilliant the individual at the helm may be,' says Aakar Patel.
Harbhajan Singh lashed out at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for speaking of hatred in his UN General Assembly speech.
Freedom of speech and expression does not merit debate; it exists with conditions to regulate its use. However, a citizen's rights end where another citizen's begin
The tribal leader, India's youngest president at 64 and the first to be born after Independence, took oath of office in the name of god to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law'.
To threaten China and Pakistan, and then to sharply cut back on military funding, bespeaks a remarkable trust in Beijing and Islamabad that is not borne out by anything they say or do, notes Ajai Shukla.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it does not want freedom of press to be muzzled but it cannot create a separate avenue for journalists to approach it directly for quashing of FIRs lodged against them.
Freedom of speech does not mean you can write or say anything and everything. You cannot hurt the sentiments of the people on the pretext of freedom of speech, says Dinanath Batra, one of the main petitioners against Wendy Doniger's book, The Hindus: An Alternative History.
"Proper procedure of law is followed in Maharashtra. Police can take action against anyone if they have evidence. The state government hasn't acted out of revenge," Raut told reporters when asked about Goswami's arrest.
The gorgeous star cast of Four More Shots Please! is on The Man's latest cover.
The guild's members and all journalists have the duty of holding all branches of government accountable by seeking information, explanations and constitutionally valid justifications for state action and inaction, it said.
In a video posted after the alleged attack, Goswami said he was told by his security guards that the attackers were allegedly Youth Congress workers. However, there was no confirmation of the same by either police or the youth outfit.
The verdict was reserved on August 13 last year after bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant heard the matter spread over a month.
Likening India's progress to that of a vehicle that only has accelerator and no brakes, the RSS chief said those trying to stop it will either step aside or be eliminated.
Rishi Sunak on Wednesday clinched his place for the final leg of the race to succeed Boris Johnson and will go head-to-head with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as one of two finalists to take charge as Conservative Party leader and British prime minister.
The police had also visited the Twitter India offices in Lado Sarai, Delhi and Gurgaon on May 24 with the notice over the tagging some of the posts on an alleged Congress "toolkit" against the Central government, as "manipulated media".
India's tweaking of IT rules allow formation of Centre-appointed panels, that will settle often-ignored user grievances against content decision of social media companies, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, adding that this was necessitated due to the "casual" and "tokenism" approach of digital platforms towards user complaints so far.
This is the first time that the IT ministry has outlined its stance in a dispute between users and social media platforms.
The Shahi Imam also said he will soon seek an appointment to meet Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, saying the meeting was necessary in order to safeguard Hindus, Muslims, democracy and secularism in the country.
For those who think India's democracy is just fine and there has been no change in the last few years, perhaps it would be instructive to see what has happened on a few issues, observes Aakar Patel.
What does Udhayanidhi's induction as minister mean? For the DMK, it indicates the future course, direction and leadership. It is continuity with change, and change with continuity, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
